Film festival opens in Orange City

A four-day film festival opens today at Northwestern College in Orange City. The northwest Iowa college is hosting the Snowdance Film Festival, countering Robert Redford’s popular Sundance Fest. Organizer Jamey Durham is a communication studies professor at Northwestern College. He says the dozen featured movies are coming from many sources.Local filmmakers are involved as well as others from as far away as California, Virginia and even South Africa. Professor Durham says the festival is a celebration of films that seek to reflect and shape our culture “according to the attributes of God’s kingdom.” One film follows the life of a modern-day man.It doesn’t mention Christ, Christianity or even religion, but it’s about a man who loses his family and is forced to turn his heart back to the things that should be important. He says the film is founded on truths like the importance of family. The film fest starts tonight and continues nightly through Saturday. Durham says there are also three workshops that are open to anyone.Durham says the film festival will give people a chance to discuss “how God’s kingdom can be furthered through film, and to see movies that will make them laugh, cry and pause to think.”